London Calling, X's first four albums, Talking Heads Remain in Light, Speaking in Tongues and Little Creatures and their two live albums, the Replacements Hootenanny, Let It Be, Tim and Pleased to Meet Me, the English Beat's three studio albums, Shoot Out the Lights, REM's Murmur, Reckoning, Fables of the Reconstruction and Life's Rich Pageant, Springsteen's The River, Nebraska and Born in the USA, Tom Waits Swordfishtrombones and Rain Dogs, Los Lobos How Will the Wolf Survive and By the Light of the Moon, all the Blasters records, Hüsker Dü's Metal Circus, Zen Arcade, New Day Rising, Flip Your Wig and Candy Apple Grey, Pretenders I and II and Learning to Crawl, Steve Earle's Guitar Town, Warren Zevon's Sentimental Hygiene, John Cougar Mellencamp's Scarecrow and Lonesome Jubilee, Rockpile's Seconds of Pleasure, Rosanne Cash's Seven Year Ache and King's Record Shop, Harris/Parton/Ronstadt Trio, Neil young's Old Ways and Freedom, the Pogues' Rum, Sodomy and the Lash, The Minutemen's What Makes a Man Start Fires, Double Nickles on the Dime, and 3-Way Tie For Last

ABC: The Lexicon of Love
Adam and the Ants: Kings of the Wild Frontier
David Byrne: The Catherine Wheel and Rei Momo
Kate Bush: The Dreaming, Hounds of Love
The Cure: The Head on the Door, Disintegration
Dexys Midnight Runners: Searching for the Young Soul Rebels, Too-Rye-Ay, Don't Stand Me Down
Echo and the Bunnymen: Porcupine
The Fall: Grotesque, Slates, Hex Enduction Hour, Perverted by Language, The Wonderful and Frightening World of the Fall, This Nation's Saving Grace, Bend Sinister, The Frenz Experiment, I am Kurious Oranj
The Housemartins: London 0 Hull 4
The Jam: Setting Sons, Sound Affects
James: Stutter, Strip Mine
The Jesus and Mary Chain: Psychocandy
Joy Division: Closer
Van Morrison: Common One, A Sense of Wonder, No Guru No Method No Teacher
Morrissey: Viva Hate
New Order: Low-Life, Brotherhood, Technique
Pink Floyd: The Final Cut
Pixies: Surfer Rosa, Doolittle
The Pogues: Rum Sodomy & the Lash, If I Should Fall From Grace With God
Public Image Ltd: album
The Sisters of Mercy: First and Last and Always, Floodland
The Smiths: The Smiths, Hatful of Hollow, Meat Is Murder, The Queen Is Dead
U2: War, The Unforgettable Fire, The Joshua Tree
The Waterboys: Fisherman's Blues

RushMoving Pictures Though only 40 minutes this album is enriched by the detail of it, from the spectacular (and subtlety funny) cover to the music inside, each song telling a sort of story in motion, this album is fantastic. QueensrycheOperation: Mindcrime The finest concept album since The Wall, with a good balance of songs that capture the narrative and songs that accentuate a single emotional moment. Intense.

The greatest soul band of all time? I should say so... Which song are you referring to?

Click to expand...

I believe in the US they are only known for "Come On Eileen".

Click to expand...

Ah! Well, yes, that was a big hit here too, but it's not their best song by a long chalk. In fact, if I never heard it again, I wouldn't feel I'd lost anything. Not with the richness of the rest of their catalogue.

Various Positions by Leonard Cohen - initially didn't even get a release in North America despite boasting such luminaries as Dance Me To The End Of Love, If It Be Your Will and Hallelujah. The recording does have a kind of aloof and studio-bound feel to it, but this is the case with many an eighties album.

The Works by Queen - only nine songs if I recall, but when those songs include Radio Ga Ga, I Want To Break Free and Hammer To Fall, what's to complain about? Brian May in particular is on top form on this album. Freddie's voice tends to get the credit, but I always thought that this was the quintessential supergroup, with a certain je ne sais quoi at work between its disparate elements.